Page 37 of La Dolce Vita

“Hey, my sons need to remember who’s boss!” he chuckled.

She hugged his neck tightly. He brought her with him on the bed. She curled her body up against his. He pulled the covers over her.

"Let's make a deal," she said.

"Mmm, I'm tired of deals. Let's make a promise," he replied.

"If we go to Firenze and I see the doctor. If she can help and I am better, then you, me, Marietta, and Lorenzo will take that trip. To America."

He frowned.

"You promised me. I want to show you and my sister where I grew up. It would be good for all of us."

"It may take a little more planning. Let me work through it," he said.

"I need this. I need to get out of here."

"Va bene. I'm your husband I will give you whatever you need. Yes. We'll go to America."

She grinned and went to sleep against his chest. She didn't look up to see if he slept. She could tell by the soft rhythmic melody of his heart he was feeling at peace.

***

Palermo, Sicily -

Don Armando Mancini was a man who preferred the night. The woman lying against his chest stirred as if to say she preferred to sleep. There would be no sleeping in his bed tonight. Already he felt his body becoming aroused for round three. He sipped the wine and set the crystal glass over to the side when her head lifted. Dark brown tangled locks fell into her lovely face.

"Che ora è?" she asked.

"Late," he replied.

"I need to get home. My mother. She'll be worried."

"Your mother thinks you are visiting yourcugina, no? The one who owns the dress shop and is married to the African?"

"Yes. But I need to be at her house soon; I can't explain being out this late. It could get back to my--" She stopped turning over and away from him when he grabbed her breast. The insistent way he did so made her still and silent.

"We aren't done," he said. He let go of her breast and moved over her to pin her beneath him.

She put on a sweet smile for him. He kissed her brow, her nose, and then her lips softly.

"Of course, I only thought we should try to keep a low profile," she explained as if to soothe the beast who once again slipped into her. She bit back the words and gasped. He thrust in and out of her. "We've, uh, worked so hard. You've done so much for me." He dropped his face to her neck and gripped her hips as he thrust in and out of her. She didn't stop talking. She never knew when to shut up. "I don't want to ruin things. Not when I'm so close to having everything I wanted," she said.

Armando sighed and stopped. He didn't bother to release. He dropped off her, bored with fucking. She sat up and looked down at him.

"Go," he said and stroked himself as he winced through his erection deflating. He had tolerated her whiney complaints and constant begging for his influence. He had endured many things in the past two years since his father's death. Fuck them all. He had learned and mastered the art of tolerance.

"I wasn't even invited to the party. I heard my mother say that you went. Did you go to Catalina's party?"

He just looked up at her.

"It's not fair. The way they treat me. It's not!"

"You have what you wanted. Why complain?"

"Yes. I guess. Still, hurts that I wasn't invited." She smiled like the canary that swallowed the cat. "It doesn't matter anymore. You did it. You got Mirabella to invite me back. I don't know what you said to her, but it worked."

"And?" Armando asked.

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